as previously mentioned, making and adhering to definitive plans did not serve me well in london, particularly because my planning never adequately accounted for late starts, directional mishaps, unexpected off-path discoveries, and the like. so, in response (read: to keep from feeling like a miserable planner, something my type a personality can't handle), i adopted a much more laissez faire -- unrestricted freedom in travel/planning -- attitude when it comes to determining how i'll spend my days, an attitude that has followed me to paris. that way, if i don't get out of bed until 10:30 a.m. (it happened, it really happened!), i have not compromised anything; i've simply set the context out of which i will operate that day. brilliant.
when i was making the telephone rounds among family members thursday night (well, my night, their late afternoon), ruby asked me if i would send her a picture of the eiffel tower. so that's what i set out to do when i finally got up and moving on friday. from the flat, the eiffel tower is about a 3.5 mile walk away, primarily along boulevard saint-germain -- a pretty straight stretch (my kind of directions!) from the flat. it was a cloudy and humid day, an improvement from walking conditions the day before (though, i could do without the humidity), and the sidewalks were not too crowded with people -- a benefit to weekday sight seeing, i imagine. after walking for what seemed like forever (in reality, it had been about 45 minutes), i thought to myself: surely, i must be close; shouldn't i be able to see the tower? and then i looked up...
and behold: the eiffel tower. ten minutes later, i was at the base of the tower, still looking up. here, too, is where i encountered one of the scams about which rick steves cautions travelers in his books: a man approached me with a string of colorful thread, which he wanted to loop around my finger so he could "show me something." rick says the scammer will make a "friendship bracelet" right before the tourist's eyes and then try and get money for the creation, which, conveniently, is attached to the person: "look at this beautiful bracelet i've made just for you!" i had to say "no, thank you" several times, before the man would leave me alone -- i think my answer: "america" to his question: "where do you come from?" irritated him enough to leave me alone, actually. so, i guess rick comes in handy once again (i can almost forgive him for that terrible audio tour of the british museum now ...).
after taking in the tower (sans crowds, which was nice), i headed back to the flat so i could get ready for my night at the moulin rouge. i booked a package deal via viator (a tour company) that included a three-course dinner and tickets to the 9 p.m. cabaret. about three miles away, i decide to splurge and take a cab (actually, uber) to the venue (i'd already walked 8 miles that day, anyway, and really didn't want to have to try and maneuver my way through a neighborhood with which i was not familiar in the dark and/or late at night). i was seated at a table of 8, stage right, and ended up chatting it up with an older couple from essex, mary and graham (both of whom are retired from the education industry), who just "popped over to paris for the weekend," since the eurostar makes travel between london and paris so convenient and easy. right before the show started, a gentleman from toronto joined our table -- he had been in east africa for a family wedding, and then spent time in zanzibar and dubai, before heading to paris, the last leg of his trip before returning to canada (he never told us his name, and i don't think we asked). the dinner was fine -- something you'd expect to eat at any catered event, really (i had the king prawn appetizer, chicken supreme (nothing really supreme about it, though) with morels and fresh pasta (not really, fresh, if you ask me), and triple chocolate mousse). the dessert, the dessert was the best part (for obvious reasons) of the meal and it was pretty, too.
the show was fun -- dancers, acrobatics, gymnastics, a ventriloquist, more dancers -- and lasted about an hour and forty-five minutes, uninterrupted. regarding the dancers: all of them wore costumes -- lots of feathers -- and some of the women were topless, while others were not (and i could not figure out the rhyme or reason behind why some dancers were more exposed than others). i booked tickets to the earlier show (another show started at 11 p.m.), at which there were a number of young children -- that sort of surprised me (then, again, i was expecting to have a more r-rated experience). i still wonder if there is a difference between the two performances, if the later show is, perhaps, a bit more risqué? in hindsight, i wish i would have taken a chance and opted for the later show. oh well; next time.
photography was not allowed -- even photography of the hall was prohibited -- but people were taking pictures of themselves and their parties and no one seemed to mind. i figured i might as well snap a shot of myself at the moulin rouge, too. cheese!
finally, i'd hoped to get a better picture of the venue, but my uber ride for the return trip to the flat arrived before i could maneuver myself through the traffic to the other side of the street to snap a full on photo. the best pictures i took were taken from the backseat of the uber sedan ... oh, and when i returned to the flat, i did watch the nicole kidman/ewan mcgregor version of the moulin rouge, too. not a bad way to end a very good day, not bad at all.
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